Matriarum Filiarumque
by AngelQueen
Summary: Of mothers and daughters. Spoilers for 'Dominion.'


**Note: **Adria and Vala are such interesting characters, had such potential for extreme angst, and it was a shame that the show did not have a chance to do more with them.

* * *

"_That life no longer suits you, Mother. You belong with me. Return with me to my ship and take up your rightful place as mother of the Orici—"_

"_Adria, stop it. I am not your mother. I may have given birth to you but we are not family. So stop pretending."_

No, we are not family. Not really. That chance was taken from us. You were not made to be a daughter, no matter how much you long to be. You were made to be a weapon of destruction, nothing more.

Family is something else. Family is a group that will do anything for you, will carefully guide you home when you are lost. Family is a woman who will take you out and treat you like a sister, without any ulterior agenda. Family is a man who will take you to his high school reunion. Family is a Jaffa whose loyalty, once given, can never be taken away. Family is a man who will believe in you even when you don't want him to. Family is a group who will never betray you. Or so I thought.

That family is gone, though, if it was there to begin with. By choice and necessity, I am alone.

I am finished with the affairs of the bigger picture. I am done with the likes of the Ori and Stargate Command. Let them all wage their righteous war on each other. Let them kill each other. I am not so sure I care who survives. I know I will emerge from the ashes and then I will be able to build something new for myself. I will do it alone. A family will just break my heart all over again. I think I can learn from my mistakes.

Go, Adria. Continue your crusade. Maybe I can find a place where I can forget that I didn't kill you when I had the chance.

* * *

"_Adria—"_

"_Your friends were trying to kill me, Mother. I can't let that happen."_

You were really willing to let them kill me, weren't you, Mother? Do you truly feel so little for me?

No, that is not true. I can sense your feelings. Whether you like it or not, there is something in you that cannot help but love me. The love of a mother is an instinct that cannot be ignored, no matter what happens. A mother always loves her child.

Still, you were not going to stop them. You would have me die. I should not care, I know, but some part of me… _It hurts,_ Mother.

* * *

"_I can still accomplish a great deal. Perhaps even more."_

"_More what? More deaths, more enslavement—"_

"_Don't attempt to play on my compassion, Mother. As you said, I'm not your daughter, I'm an Ori—"_

"_Part Ori, part human!"_

"_That will soon change."_

So now you agree with me? You were set to argue with me back in that tavern, to do whatever you could to convince me that I was wrong. Now, though, now you throw those words back in my face.

That is one reason why I could not love you completely as a mother should, Adria. You are too much like the Ori, full of hypocrisy. That is why my love is so mixed with my hate. You believe only what is convenient for you to believe.

Will Ascension allow you to shed that part of you that is human? I do not know for certain. From what little I heard about Daniel's time as one of the Ascended, he was still much the same as the rest of SG-1 knew him, if perhaps a little more mysterious and all-knowing. You, however, are not an Ancient, and do not conform to their rules. It could very well be different.

You and me? We are both liars, Adria. We are mother and daughter, even if we both deny it. You are my child, for you are an excellent liar. I almost believe you. I am your mother, your reluctant tie to humanity. We both lie.

* * *

"_I always wondered you had it in you to kill me… goodbye, Mother…"_

The poison spreads through my body. The pain is terrible, like nothing I have ever experienced, but it is not what truly troubles me.

You were actually willing to kill me. You took that crude weapon and turned it on me, determined to use it. It's almost ironic, isn't it? I have seen the conflict in your eyes so many times in the past, the warring love and hate. You could not decide whether or not to try and kill me.

Now, though, the choice became easy. We both could hear Doctor Jackson calling your name, coughing as the toxins fill the air outside the door. He was in danger, dying. You did not hesitate, grabbing the weapon and your finger starting to depress the trigger. For his sake, you would kill me, kill anyone.

My instincts howl for me to kill you, to snap your neck like a twig. I can even feel your heart slow as you try to breathe in this stale air. I should kill you, just as you tried to murder me, your own child. It would seem only just.

I am tired, however, and can feel my eyes sliding shut, my body fading into the form that will take me to where the Ori once dwelled. Even now, I can feel the power they left behind, writhing violently, just waiting for me to claim it, to control it.

It seems I must choose: Ascension or killing you. Naturally, I choose the former. It does not matter. A time will come, Mother, when we will finish what we have started here. Either way, one day, you and I will come together again and we shall finish what we started. This is only a temporary parting.

One day, we shall have a final reckoning. You betrayed me, and I will see you pay for it. You will see your friends fall at your feet, defeated and broken; you will see your home fall to the flames of Origin.

Only then, Mother, will I destroy you myself. I will personally end your heresy, your unnaturalness.


End file.
